Dear Cyber Dragon
by KAISRE
Summary: Together thay expirienced two years of friendship, loyalty, trajedy, glory, freedom, then finally betrayel. A story of Zane and Atticus' bond development. NonYaoi. OLDFIC
1. Entrance Exams

My name is Zane Truesdale. I'm 15 years old. Heck, I don't know why I'm telling you this. I'm just outside the signup building for duel academy. My former trainer is the counselor of this school. Just six years ago I obtained by trusted partner, Cyber End Dragon from him. Well him is Master Sheppard. I obtained the card in the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. The Roof of the World. It's a strange place for someone like me who came Japan to train for duel monsters there. I spent my time on Everest training hard, it paid off as I added new things to my deck of cyber dragons. Together, we won many tournaments in the past five years. Some call me a child prodigy, others call me crazy insane. But I call myself one who only looks for new challenges.

I reached the front desk and told the lady my name. "Zane Truesdale, I'm here for the entrance exams." The woman seemed speechless. I tried my best not to look exasperated but patiently waited for the lady's reply. "I have orders from Counselor Sheppard that you are to be automatically placed in Obelisk Blue. Our highest rank, Mr. Truesdale." I lifted an eyebrow. "No thank you, I wish to participate in the entrance exams." The lady looked confused but accepted. She handed me a ticket, 21. "When they call you name, Mr. Truesdale just proceed down to the Arenas below and an instructor will test you on your dueling skills, first though go to you left to the testing room for your written test, here's a pass." I accepted the pass and turned to the examination room until I saw someone running towards the door. The door was of the finest glass and that person didn't seem to know that. I wanted to warn him but unfortunately he already collided with the glass. The woman and I flinched at the sickening thud. The women seemed to be frozen with surprise. I sighed and opened the door and checked on the boy. He was probably by age and he had long dark hair. His face was turning red and he seemed to be seeing stars. He opened his mouth in a stupid grin. "Yuh, Lexi thish for you and I hipe yuh really unjoi it…" He kept on blabbering. I tried my best not to roll my eyes.

"Are you alright?" I asked him after shaking him a little. He snapped out of it and sat right up and in result his head banged hard against mine. I said nothing but he, "Ouch! Oh sorry, dude. I was rushing a bit and I guess I don't know what hit me." I pointed to the half-open door. "Oh," was what he said. I helped him up. The brunette introduced himself, "My name's Atticus Rhodes, what's yours?" I was about to tell him my real name but I remembered my past experiences. "I'm Kay… er Smithfield." Atticus cast me a weird look. "Oh uh nice name, so Kayer are you here for the entrance exams too?" I put on a fake smile and said yes. "Yeah, I'm just about to take the written exam. See you later." I gave him a small wave as I rushed to the testing room.

Later…

The exam was a piece of cake. I didn't really expect it to be that easy I mean it was a placement exam. Maybe I'll face harder tests later and this was just to give me a false sense of security. I made my way to the dueling rooms. The duels were mildly interesting. I saw Atticus and Atticus saw me. He waved at me to come over and I did. He introduced me to a bunch of _girls _who seemed to think that both Atticus and me were eye candy or something. "Hey girls, this is Kayer Smithfield. Kayer meet my fan club." I wasn't amused.

"…You have a fan club?" Atticus slapped me on the back. "Yup! Always had one all the way from grade school!" The girls bashed their eyelashes at me. I wanted to retch but resisted the impulse. The loud speaker went on. "Number 22 please attend duel arena C in five minutes." Atticus checked his ticket. "That's me! See you!" He waved before rushing down the steps. I cast him a pleading look not to leave me with these fan girls.

It was a great duel. Atticus had a strange choice of cards but he beat his opponent in just a short amount of turns. Girls seemed to melt before them as they cheered for his victory and hoped for his attention. Atticus seemed to like the stardom and always winked, causing the girls to faint. This guy was very interesting. "Number 21, please proceed to Arena A!" I walked down the stairs and onto one of the fields. It reminded me of the tournaments I entered. Well then before I knew it people were shouting my name.

"OMG IT'S ZANE TRUESDALE I SAW HIM FIRST, I SAW HIM FIRST!!!" Girls seemed to want to jump off the railings just to get at me. I didn't dare glance at Atticus. I cursed at the public's stupidity. I wanted to scream for them to shut the hell up but instead I sighed faced my examiner and activated my disk. This was going to a challenge.

"Cyber End Dragon, Finish him off!" I obliterated the last of my opponent's life points one turn later. I almost grew deaf with all the cheering. I turned of my disk and made my way back dodging fan girls on my way. I finally found Atticus. I had no idea why I _wanted_ to find him. Maybe I wanted to apologize. I was just about to say something before he started to scream over me like everyone else but he only had a strange grin on his face that struck me dumb. "So you're really Zane Truesdale huh? Well you do have a talent of fooling someone!" He slapped me on the back but I appreciated how he kept those rabid fan girls away from me. He actually seemed to understand me.

I've made my first true friend.

We waited in line for our uniforms and test results. I scored the highest score possible in both written and dueling exams. It didn't surprise me much. Atticus's score was a couple hundred lower than mine but he was still considered advanced. It seemed that we two were the ones with the highest freshmen scores. And as our 'reward' we received two Obelisk uniforms that had reverse colors. Atticus was modeling in front of the changing mirror while I waited already changed on a bench reading a newspaper. Finally when he was satisfied with how he looked we both boarded the planes to Duel Academy.

We both were given first-class seats. It would be a long flight so I pulled out me deck. I browsed through my deck. Atticus saw me. "Hey, neat card you got there. We got to duel each other sometime."

"I agree." I looked at my three Cyber Dragons. They had won me many duels and helped me through tough situations. We were forever bonded. They were my _Aibou_

_Dear Cyber Dragon_

_-_X-

New Story! Have you ever wondered what happened the moment Zane and Atticus met? There first year at DA? Well that's what my story's for. Now reviews are highly appreciated on a new stories' first chapter. I need your opinions and what do you think about this?


	2. Perfection

Only an hour later was when Atticus decided to doze off. I had put away my cards an hour earlier. A flight attendant bowed to us or just me since Atticus was unconscious. "May you want any refreshments?" she asked. I didn't need anything but Atticus sure did. I shook him and he snored louder. I shook him harder, he started to drool. Finally I decided to strike him on the face, not hard of course.

"OUCH!" He yelled causing nearby people to flinch. He started to rub his nose and give me an annoyed look. I sighed and pointed at the attendant.

"Oh, yeah can I have a nice bottle of sake?" he said. The attendant seemed to be in the process of taking in his words. I, however, was facing the opposite direction, one of my hands covering my face. Well for both of our sakes I pulled Atticus in a strangling position with my hand over his mouth. With a big cheesy grin I said, "What my friend _meant _is that he wants a bottle of er raspberry soda." I felt Atticus's throat gagging. Guess I chose the wrong flavor. The attendant bowed again. When she left I removed my hand from the brunette's mouth. I just needed to tell him something. "You idiot! They don't sell sake to fifteen year olds on a PLANE that's flying over the oceans!" Atticus seemed crestfallen as if he had a good treat snatched from him. "Well back where I came from sake was actually pretty mild for us."

"Then I wonder how many brain cells you lost." I said under my breath.

"What's that?"

"Nothing."

The attendant brought Atticus's drink. He just casually tossed the can in his bag. "You know that stuff tastes like shi-"

"Attention passengers if you look to your right, you can see duel academy right ahead. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for our landing."

Atticus was criticizing the soda until it brought him to a totally different topic. "You know, that crap reminds me of that time when my sister decided to pour some of that into my soup."

_Well that explains something_ "Oh really? You have a sister?" Atticus looked at me. "Well no duh I have a sister. Her name's Alexis I never told you?" I shook my head and decided not to talk more about it. Atticus however thought differently.

"You know? I'll be really glad to hook you guys up." I shook my head again. "Uh no thanks, I'm not interested in girls very much." It was the truth. All those fan girls must of screwed up my hormones or something. I really never felt anything for a girl and I don't plan to.

Atticus finally gave up on the subject. We felt the plane get lower and lower until we could see the runway. A big jerk on the plane and we were on ground.

We both grabbed out luggage as several people ran outside to relieve themselves of something. Atticus withdrew what seemed to be a surfboard.

"What's that for?" I asked him.

"Well there are beaches at the academy, what's the point if you can't ride the waves a bit?" he replied.

I shrugged and walked outside. It was a little more humid than I expected but it wasn't like we were always dueling outside. I pulled out my little map of the island. "Okay so we're both going to the Obelisk dorms. According to my key I have room 260, you have 233, Looks like we're not going to be next to each other." Atticus wasn't paying attention to this. He was waving back at a couple of girls. I guess he was just following me. After several minutes of walking we reached our dorm. It was huge. I saw the shack in the opposite direction that was supposed to be the Slifer dorm. I saw the Ra dorm which seemed to be a couple of manor houses put together, but our dorm was several times bigger. How much money did Sheppard spent favoring the Obelisks? After walking flights of stair I reached my room. I looked across from it and fell over. Atticus looked down concerned at me. His room was right across from mine. Not that I minded much. I just saw Atticus toting in a surround sound system. Brilliant. Atticus patted me on the back. "Wow! We meet at the exams and now we have rooms right next to each other! It's like this was meant to be as if we met in a past life of something." I made a funny noise like a cough and sneeze. "Uh no I don't think so because last time I checked I've only been living for 15 years. We better unpack our stuff." I slid my card key. A scent from fabric softener hit me… hard. I opened my windows. Unpacked my uniforms and hung them in my very bigger-than-necessary closet. I set up my black laptop on polished black wood desk. I had a kings bed which I wonder why. Only one person was living here and that one person was me. I even had a decent bathroom. _How much space does this take up?_

I walked out my own room and checked on Atticus. He was hanging up pictures of himself and of a blonde girl. They really seemed related. I assumed it was Alexis. Atticus's board was stored in the closet. Atticus had already set up his surround sound system and he had a fancy electric guitar on his bed. When he finally noticed me he gave me a cheery wave. "Hey Zane, you're done already? Mind if you can help me position these frames?" I didn't. Atticus was pretty picky on how the pictures were put but I listened. When we were done it seemed that Atticus had already been living here for a couple of years. We stood back and 'admired' our results. Atticus was pretty proud and though everything was perfect. I thought it was a mess.

Atticus said, "You know, I'm actually pretty hungry. 'Cept the welcome dinner isn't in two hours. I actually think I'm going to have some of that soda." I sat on his bed as he dug through his travel bag and pulled out the purple can. I looked at him to see if he liked it or not. Only when his finger were on the cap was when I realized what was going to happen.

"Atticus, don't-" too late. He opened it and purple fizz stained his brand new uniform. I fell back on the bed trying not to laugh. Atticus's expression was priceless. His brown hair was drenched. I walked to the bathroom and helped cleaned himself up. "You better hurry Atticus, the dinner is only in two hours." Atticus was still in shock but he locked himself in the bathroom and started the shower. I left his room towards my own.

I has to admit the food was pretty good. Atticus was digging into his. Except for all the attention everything went smoothly. Well kind of, it was until I decided to take a nice walk at the island. I had just reached the route to the lighthouse when someone challenged me.

"Hey you. Big guy. You think you're so tough, ain't?" He stood in front of me. I couldn't see his face. I was annoyed at his ignorance. He readied his duel disk and I readied mine.

"Duel!" we both shouted.

The stranger drew. "Okay first I summon my Minor Troll! (1000/1000) and I use his special effect, if I have no other cards on my field even if it's my first turn, I can summon two more Minor Trolls! Next I play my Quick Charge and I attack your life points directly!"

Zane-1000

Stranger-4000

I didn't flinch at all but I was actually surprised on how quickly he inflicted damage on me.

When I drew, I saw Atticus's form running towards us. He halted to a stop with a look of horror on his face at my life points and my opponents. He looked at me and shouted, "What are you doing, Zane!?"

"Relax, Atticus we only begun."

"Just began? That's why it's so horrible!"

Then I realized I didn't choose the best place to duel. People leaving the Obelisk Dorm didn't miss my duel. I tried to ignore the drawing crowd. Girls were whining on how I could ever win.

I looked at my hand. Two of my Cyber dragons were there and so was a very special card.

"I activate power bond! Power bond let's me fuse my two Cyber Dragons I have so I can form my Cyber Twin Dragon!" My twin dragon appeared on the field. The stranger didn't seem intimidated. I guess they didn't know I was ending this duel. "Power bond has a special effect, the monster I summoned with it gets double attack points!" Twin Dragon's attack rose to 5600. It was only then the stranger reacted. "No that can't be! That means-"

I finished for him. "Yes, that means I'm going to reign victorious in this duel! Cyber Twin Dragon, attack his troll and win me this duel!" Two golden beams of light destroyed his monster, His life points dropped quickly to zero. Another match I won in one turn. I de-activated my disk and walked over to my opponent. When I saw his face I wanted to gasp. It was one of the Obelisk Professors. He smiled weakly at me. Like I was taught of respect, I helped him up. He shook my hand and said, "If you didn't know I'm Professor Cornelius. Your basic life skills teacher." I nodded. He continued. "Now your arrival here, it's going to change a lot of people's lives. Either you win over them, like the _Kaiser."_ I nodded again and he let go. I cast a glance at Atticus who took the message. I forced myself through the crowd. I heard their chanting.

"_Kaiser! Kaiser!" _I knew what I needed to do. I had a new goal. Defeat everyone worthy at this school and earn my title.

I sat on my bed. Atticus was busy on my laptop writing a letter to his sis. It was my first day here and everyone expects everything from Zane Truesdale. I sighed. Atticus was congratulating me on my duel saying it was brilliant to defeat a teacher in just one turn. Atticus wheeled around in my rolling chair. "Hey Zane. I just got our schedules!" He waved two slips of paper inches from my nose. I decided to lighten up. "Have you been hiding those from me?" Atticus cocked his head.

"Nah not really. And I checked out lists. We have every class together and the same lunch period!" He threw my schedule at me. I read the top. "Well maybe because we're both 1st years in Obelisk. Also maybe because the list of new students are listed in alphabetical order so we happen to be together?" I lifted an eyebrow at Atticus as he realized I was right. Atticus let out an embarrassed laugh. "It's 10:00 I better get to bed. See you at breakfast." He walked out my door.

I closed my blinds and switched off my lights. I wasn't really tired. A few hours of sleep should be enough. I rolled onto my side wondering what class would be like. Would I learn something when I knew I just easily beat a teacher? He was only a life skills one. Maybe that's why.

I woke up at six the next morning. I was just about to knock on Atticus's door but I realized someone like him wasn't going to be up so early. Class would start in two hours. We both had Honors Dueling Skills for the first three periods. Brilliant way to start the day.

I walked outside. A morning on a pretty warm island was a nice way to enjoy the weather. I stood at the cliff facing the rising sun. There right below where I have perfect view of was the lighthouse. It seemed so empty and peaceful. I looked for a walkway down to the lighthouse. There were none. Only way was sliding down this steep cliff. The lighthouse was programmed on it's own. It needed no keeper. I checked my watch, it was over one and a half hours from class. I slid down the rocky surface. It wasn't really what I expected but I made it down in one piece.

The view was brilliant. Just what I needed. Some peace and Quiet and a sunrise.

I sat there until I realized it was only ten minutes to first period. I quickly climbed the cliff and when I pulled myself up with great difficulty only to find Atticus standing in front of me with his hands on his hips. He had a frown on his face and said, "I thought I'd be seeing you at breakfast." I looked apologetically at him but he only grinned and slapped my on my aching back so I hit the floor.

"Oomph." I said spitting out brown dirt.

"Whoops, sorry Zane." He helped me up and we both walked to our class, brushing the dirt off me on the way.

-X-

No much to say except send in a review. Now let's see what happens to our Zane and Atticus in next chapter!


	3. Representative

Today is me and Atticus's first day with a homosexual named Dr. Vellian Crowler. I swear he wasn't what I expected. I did see him at the Obelisk welcome dinner and to be honest, I though he was a women. I guess I should be cursing my stupidity right now. Ugh…

Atticus dumped his bag on the ground and took a seat next to me. The room was pretty big. Our assigned seats were near the top, that signaled our rank. I have no idea on the nastiness between the three dorms. From a distance Slifers cast me an admiring look but every time I get near they scatter. Ras do the same. A few Obelisks to my great annoyance have a habit of following me wherever I go. I took out a notebook for notes. Atticus did the same. My cover way blank, his was crammed with black signatures in many different handwritings. As Dr. Crowler was getting ready for whatever, people started to talk. It was only when he slammed a yardstick on a Slifer's was when they all silenced.

"Hello," Crowler seemed to expect a reply. It was dead quiet. Crowler continued, "Well welcome to Advanced Dueling Skills. You shall all address me by the title Dr. and not Mr. Or Ms." A lot of people giggled but went quiet the moment Crowler put his eyes on them. "You should know this is a class for _advanced_ dueling skills, there will be no room for slackers." Crowler's eyes traveled over a row of Slifers. When he was looking a few cast Crowler ugly death glares. Atticus glanced at me and grinned. I grinned half-heartedly.

"Now to start, I hope all of you know all the card types, Mr. Sampson can you please review them for us?" A red-jacketed boy jumped when he heard his name. He stood up nervously.

"There are uh monsters and… uh spells and…"

Crowler shook his head and insulted the poor kid, "No, no. I knew a Slifer like you wouldn't know anything! Detention for you!" For a moment I looked angry but it quickly faded away when my name came up.

"Ugh, like this you'll never be good as someone like Zane Truesdale. Mr. Truesdale would you care to enlighten this little boy." I sighed. Every eye was on me. I stood up and recited "There are monster cards. Some monster cards have special effects, are fusions or are both. Monster cards have 15 categories: Dragons, Reptiles, Sea Serpents, Aquas, Fish, warriors, beast-warriors, spell casters, insects, fiends, zombies, winged-beasts, fairies, rocks, and machines. Fusions are formed when two or more monsters are fused by the effect of special spell cards. There are Spells or Magic cards: Quick-play, equip, continuous, and field spell. A field spell gives one of both of the players certain advantages and disadvantages such as power change and how turns are carried out. Traps are under the same class as spells with the same categories or unless specified, they may only be played during the opponents turn. Of course the trap must be face-down on the field first."

I sat back down. Crowler applauded my answer but I didn't appreciate it. Atticus gave me a pat on the back. I sat there and forced myself to listen to the rest of Crowler's lectures with my pencil moving across my paper.

The day passed on. Our Alchemy teacher was Professor Lyman Banner. He was a strange fellow with a German accent. He had a funny liking to cats especially to a fat one named Pharaoh. That was a pretty strange name for a fat tabby. Life Skills with Professor Cornelius went fine except he kept on pointing me out. Can't I just have a normal life here? When attention was drawn to me, it was drawn to Atticus too and seemed to like that. The total moron but hey, everyone has their flaws.

Over the weeks a fan club had developed. The 'I heart Zany' club. Lovely. Absolutely Lovely. Apart from that something else happened.

It was just in the middle of Alchemy Class. Professor Banner called my name.

"Zane, the counselor would like to see you."

I nodded and walked down the flight of stairs. Everyone stared at me but I got used to it. I looked back at Atticus, he had a funny look on his face.

Even though Sheppard's office was on the other side of the building I encountered no one since they were I guess were all at class. The automatic door slid open revealing Sheppard behind his desk, his fingers in an arch.

I expected for Sheppard to mention something about six years ago. I was wrong.

"I've been waiting for you, Zane. As you should know the School Duel with North Academy is drawing up."

"Yes," I said inviting him to go on.

"North Academy has chosen their best third year student against us. True we won over them in the past years and our staff have decided to choose you for the special duel. Since your first day here, you've proven to be an extraordinary duelist to us. What do you say, Zane?"

"I'm flattered by your praise, Counselor. Yes, I would be honored to participate in the school duel."

Counselor Sheppard sat up, grabbed and shook my hand hard.

"Excellent. We'll give you around a month to prepare." I nodded.

"More than enough to prepare."

"Very well, Truesdale. You're dismissed."

At the end of the school day I told Atticus on what happened. He gave me his infamous slap on the back hard enough for me to spit out my tea. I was really glad no one saw that. Atticus didn't notice my annoyed look.

"Hey that's great, Zane! You're chosen to be our representative! Brilliant!" He grinned widely.

"Uh thanks. I appreciate your enthusiasm."

"You know, tomorrow's Saturday let's go to the beach. It's a really good day for it! Just let me get my board." I agreed and we both walked to the Obelisk Dorm. Atticus left me in the hall as he closed his room door. Five minutes passed and I was wondering what Atticus was doing. I knocked on the door. "Just a minute!" Came his voice from inside. Another five minutes passed until Atticus opened his door. He was wearing a black and purple wet suit, his board under his arm in a surfer's pose.

I pointed at his suit. "What is that for?"

Atticus looked at me as if I were growing an extra pair of legs or something. "Uh, it's a wetsuit.. .You can't just go surfing in your uniform." I shrugged and we both made our way to the beach.

I sat in the shade of the palm trees while Atticus surfed on the waves while girls watched. Every time he set foot on shore a couple of girls would run up to him for an autograph. No one paid attention to me since… well they couldn't see me until Atticus ran over to me and grabbed my wrist. He started dragging me to the water as if he wanted to drown me or something.

"Atticus, what the hell are you doing with me!?"

Atticus paid no note to my serious tone. He only said, "Man, Zane you seriously need to get out more, I'm going to teach you how to surf!"

"Are you crazy?" I started but Atticus had already forced me down on the board. I sighed angrily but played along. Atticus seemed satisfied. "There's a big wave and it's coming fast! Go do your stuff, Zane!"

Before I could do anything Atticus paddled and pushed me. When I looked back he was already near shore.

"Stand up on the board Zane!" he called. I tried to but lost my balance and fell in the water. In case Atticus didn't notice or forgot, I still had my uniform on. I resurfaced coughing up salt water while saying curses under my breath. Atticus was lying on his board laughing at me. He jumped of it and faced me. "You really suck at things like this, Zane." I know he was joking but it would've made me feel better if I got to punch him in the face. Atticus turned around to heave himself on the board. Quickly I grabbed a handful of sand.

"Hey Atticus, look at this!" I said. He turned around and-

SPLAT!

Wet sand and seaweed adorned Atticus's brown hair. He had the same look on his face when he got drenched by the raspberry soda. I quickly submerged to dodge a handful of flying sand.

We sneaked back to Obelisk Dorm drenching, cold, and covered in sand. I swear Atticus looked like a sea monster or something.

Atticus glanced at his watch. "Uh, it's 11' We better get to our rooms fast and cleanup."

We reached our own. I waved a good bye at Atticus which he returned before closing my door.

_Tomorrow I need to prepare for the School Duel._

-X-

Nothing much again but review or I'll hunt you down xD


	4. School Duel

"Okay, I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cyber Dragon and I attack your life points directly."

Atticus pouted when I won again. "Man, Zane you are crazy. Hey if you teach me some better strats' I can give you some surfing lessons."

I gathered up my cards. "No thanks Atticus, I think I'll be fine with me teaching you. Not the other way around. Now hand me your deck." Atticus passed it over to me. I looked through it… _Panther Warrior, Perfect Stage clothes, Spotlight, Brown Warrior, Abominable Warrior Lai-Lai, Scapegoat, Monster Reincarnation, Mad Sword beast. _Atticus really did have a strange choice of cards. They did go well together however the range of strategies was tightly limited. Atticus looked intently at me. "Well Atticus you do have a good job of getting cards that work together, but you should spread out your combos. Your skills are a bit isolated." I handed the deck back to him. "What do you think I should do, Zane?"

I thought for a moment.

"There are a lot of things you can do, think up new strategies that would work well with your current cards. I'd advise more monsters and that Perfect Stage Clothes Spell has a huge weakness, I advise you to get something that can close that weakness up. If you can't there's only one last resort and that's to start a new deck from scratch but I'm sure you'll be fine." Atticus nodded at my advice. I glanced at my desk clock.

"It's getting really late, you should probably get back to your room Atticus."

Two weeks later…

As role of school representative, I awaited my opponent at the docks. Counselor Sheppard and Crowler waited beside me. I expected a normal boat to be sailing towards us bearing most of North Academy's population. What I got was a giant submarine.

The top surface, I hid my surprise. I guess Crowler and Sheppard did expect their strange entry. What I guess was the school's counselor opened the top and jumped out. He had untidy hair and circular glasses. Crowler and Sheppard exchanged pleasantries. He shook my hand and as he greeted me I'd think he taken a strange addiction to beer or something.

"So you're the famous Zane Truesdale, eh? I'm sure you're a worthy opponent for our top student, Czar." A tough-built duelist about three years older than me jumped out. Some of his friends I assumed that climbed out were of the same build. I wonder if North Academy was a weight-lifting school or a dueling school. I guess I would find out. I shook hands with Czar who decided to use my fingers for stress balls. I frowned at his lack for respect. Czar grinned and in a heavy **(Okay, I forgot what type of accent it is so nyah xD) **accent, "Oh I'm sure you are a very good duelist to defeat. Aftar all the bigger they are the harder they fall!" The students from North Academy began to crack up. Sheppard seemed upset.

"Hilarious." I said.

We walked to the main duel stadium. Atticus was waiting for me at the arena's entrance and wished me luck. I gave him a thumbs up of appreciation. Czar and me walked to the center and shook hands. I felt my hand being crushed again.

I took my spot and he took his, the crowd was cheering and Czar's savage fans started some cheer I couldn't make out. I drew my five cards.

"Eh, I think it would be nice If ze guest went first. I zummon Lesser Fiend to sacrifice for my Zoa!" A blue fiend appeared on the field. "I'll finish and lay one face-down, scared yet Zane?"

This guy was really starting to annoy me, but respect is respect. He'll pay out of his life points. North Academy cheered at his move while my fans started shouting at them. It was like war or something. "First I play my polymerization to fuse two of my dragons to form Cyber Twin Dragon. Twin Dragon has a special ability that lets me attack twice. I'll use his first move to demolish your Zoa." The first head of my dragon let out a burst of flame.

"Hold on! I activate my trap, Negate Attack! This trap here-"

"I know what it does, very well I'll end by playing my different dimension capsule. Now let me explain things. I search through my deck for one card and remove it from play. In three turns that card is transferred to my hand. Now I end my turn."

A deafening roar filled the room as North Academy screamed their cheers.

"Oh? So you have and oh-so-scary dragon on the field, no? First I play my spell, Metal Morph! It lets me sacrifice my normal Zoa for my Metal Zoa! Say Adios to your dragon!" My Cyber Twin Dragon was destroyed.

Zane- 3800

Czar- 4000

North Academy started screaming again.

"I place two face downs and end my turn!" I drew and it seemed Czar had another thing to say. "Your draw phase has activated my trap, System Shutdown! You and I must get every machine type monster on our field, hand, grave, deck and remove them from play!" I frowned, I guess this guy knew my deck consists of only machine monsters. I silently removed my monsters from play. I didn't see Czar remove his Metal Zoa. "Czar, Metal Zoa is a machine type. If you're not going to remove it from play then hurry up a flip your other trap." Czar growled as if he took my prediction as offense. "Fine, I activate another trap called DNA surgery and I decide to change my Zoa into a dragon!" The crowd behind me booed thinking I was doomed without my machines, I had return from a different dimension in my hand. "If you're done, I'll place a face down and end my turn."

Czar drew. "I play a card called Card Destruction! First we discard our hands and draw the same amount of cards we threw away." I drew a new set of cards. Great there goes my spell.

"I'm not finished, I also activate another spell named Deceiving Treaty! I get 1000 life points and you get to return one spell card from your grave to your hand!" This guy was a total idiot. I returned Return from the Different Dimension to my hand. "But you take 2000 points of damage if it's an equipment card." Not like that matters.

"Too bad it's not an equip spell."

North Academy booed. Gee, it's like they have a grudge against me or something.

"No matter, I attack you with my Metal Zoa directly!"

Zane- 800

Czar- 5000

North Academy started cheering. Sheppard and Atticus were screaming my name. "I think that's enough for this turn." I drew.

"Since three turns are up I move the card I removed from play back to my hand. I'll also play a little spell called Return from the Different Dimension!" A look of pure horror came across Czar's face.

"I see you know how it works, but for the sake of who don't know I'll explain. I split my life points in half and every monster that was removed from play returns to my field! My trusted Cyber Dragons appeared and so did some other monsters I rarely used: Cyber Kirin and Cyber Phoenix.

"So what? They can't defeat my Zoa!"

"In their separate forms they cant, I activate my spell Power bond! This lets me fuse my three Cyber Dragons together to form my Cyber End Dragon!" My favorite monster appeared on the field. "And since he was summoned by power bond his attack points are doubled!" Czar fell back in fear.

"No! That can't be!"

"Cyber End Dragon, destroy Zoa and the rest of his life points!"

A blast filled the stadium and when the smoke cleared, Czar was on his knees. His life points dropped down right on zero. My attack was neither too big nor too little. Perfect.

"And the winner is Zane Truesdale!" Crowler announced. The crowd cheered way louder than North Academy. Atticus ran down to congratulate me. "Zane you were so awesome! The way you wiped him out in just one attack, and he's a third year too!" Sheppard and Crowler ran down the steps. Sheppard lifted my arm in victory and Duel Academy clapped and cheered.

I looked behind me at Czar. North Academy's counselor was scolding him. In the cheering I could barely hear them but I caught something about staying somewhere longer until something else. While trying to figure out what they were saying I didn't notice the crowd gathering in front of me. When I turned around Atticus picked me up and tossed me into the crowd.

"Ah!" I yelled in surprise. Atticus was grinning and waving as the crowd carried me outside tossing me up and down on the way.

"Atticus-I-am-so-go-ing-to-kill-you-now-put-me-down." I yelled between tosses.

In my ears I heard the familiar cheer.

"Kaiser, Kaiser, Kaiser!"

-X-

Yeah I admit I made at least one mistake in the duel. I only caught one but if you find another one just send me a message and I'll try to avoid it later.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next: Banner's yearly field trip for first years.

Atticus: I don't think I'm going to like how that turns out.

Zane: Ditto


	5. Ancient Encounter

We got our progress reports just a short while back. Nothing interesting in mine. Atticus, he had great scores of course.

In alchemy class Banner went on a lecture on the history of Duel Monsters. "…Duel Monsters is actually a game that was played over 5,000 years ago. The game was played for things such as power over people and land."

Finally something interesting that doesn't involve explosive liquids.

Banner continued. "Now on this island there's an ancient site, it's believed to have held one of the oldest locations for Duel Monsters." Atticus raised his hand.

"Yeah, Prof' if um that's one of the oldest places existing and it's on this island, I think that's unrealistic. I mean I've read about that site and-"

Banner interrupted him. "Now you see Atticus, carbon-dating the artifacts from the site say that the site has been there ever since Duel Monsters started. If you still have any questions I can answer them on our field trip."

I guess Banner expected some kind of enthusiasm. No one seemed interested. I looked to my side and Atticus was fiddling with his notebook binding.

The bell rung. Everyone packed up their bags. Atticus was breathing in a non-existent food smell, "Wow, I'm very hungry. Let's hurry Zane." I had just barely closed the top of my bag before Atticus was dragging me down the steps.

Steamed rice and Teriyaki laid before us. Atticus snapped his chopsticks. "Dig in!" and that's what he just did. Just when Atticus was almost done with his food he noticed I was barely eating. "Zane, the chicken is pretty good."

"Atticus, about what Banner said last period."

"Hm? Yeah what about it?"

"You'd think that whoever invented Duel Monsters was a really good duelist, someone who can actually beat me." Atticus swallowed the rest of his food and gave me a good look.

"Oh, you're looking for a challenge, eh Zane? Well to be honest with you I think whoever invented Duel Monsters is dead."

"I know that. But I mean, it's a game. There has to be something more."

"Yeah I'm sure, are you going to eat your food?" I pushed my bowl towards him and with a word of thanks Atticus dug in.

We awoke early the next morning for our 'field trip'. It was going to take up the whole day which means I won't be seeing Crowler or Cornelius. Someone knocked on my door, I answered it and it was Atticus. He had circles under his eyes. "What happened to you?" I asked.

Atticus stifled a yawn. "Just a late night duel with someone." I tilted an eyebrow.

"Okay… We should hurry now. Banner said to meet at the entrance of the main building." He nodded and we made our way.

Banner greeted us. "So Zane, Atticus you finally arrived huh?"

"Yeah," Atticus really needed some rest. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Where's the rest are we early?"

I checked my watch, "Nope, it's 8'o clock. Where is everyone?" Banner shook his head with a frown on his head. "Ah never mind, their grade will pay for it. Now shall we go boys? I hope you brought your lunches."

I did, I looked at Atticus. He had no cargo with him and I think he just noticed that. I tossed my bag at him. "I'm not hungry, you can have it Atticus." He raised his hand in thanks. The poor guy to tired.

The three of us walked through the dense bushes and trees. We had walked for 20 minutes when I realized Atticus was missing.

"Professor Banner, where's Atticus?" Banner didn't seem to know either. I looked behind me worried. I turned around to get a better look. I turned around to see if Atticus ran ahead when I wasn't looking. Atticus's upside down faced was just barely an inch from mine.

"Atticus, what are you doing?"

"Hanging around, you should try it sometime."

"No thanks, I think you should get down now." He grinned and made a huge swing before dropping on his feet. Just a while ago he was tired enough to be sleep walking. Weird.

"Well students let's continue walking, there's a clearing over ahead! We can stop for a lunch break."

Minutes later, The three of us sat down on the sandy ground. Atticus let out a breath of relief and unwrapped my lunch. I brought only a rice ball, and Atticus devoured it right away. "Drats I'm still hungry." Mean while Banner seemed to be digging into what seemed like a carry-on buffet.

"Hey teach' mind sharing some?"

"Nah, A teacher needs his energy to lead two kids like you."

It started to get cold and dark. I looked up. A storm is coming. A few drops of water hit us and that's when then the other two noticed.

"Students, we need to find shelter. I didn't expect a storm to come this early."

Atticus nodded and we all ran for a fallen column. Banner and I just reached it but Atticus was stalling. Oh my gosh.

"Atticus stop staring at whatever and get over here!" A lightning storm started. One hit the ground between Atticus and us then all was black.

I felt a dry heat before waking up. I could smell something musty. I looked up then down.

"Brilliant." I was wrapped up in bandages and stuffed in a coffin. Lovely. I tried my best to sit up to give my surroundings a better look but I was so tightly wrapped that I couldn't move at all. How did I get into this. Above me were two floating rocky platforms. I saw Atticus on one of them. He looked down and saw me.

"Zane, Professor Banner! Don't worry I'm going to get you out of there!"

"If you lose this duel, you and your friends get to be buried alive." I looked to my left. A man in Egyptian like robes readied what seemed like a duel disk.

"Buried alive? Isn't that a little too over the edge?" From here I could see Atticus sweating.

"Not in the shadow games. Now prepare to duel for your lives!"

Shadow games, duel for our lives? Great. It seems that during the storm we were transferred to a different dimension full of people who decide they want to bury us. Atticus better win.

"Atticus! Don't worry! Just remember our past duels, this is nothing different!"

Atticus nodded, "Alright."

**(Yeah um, I am a big amateur with grave keepers so I'm just making up a lot of stuff okay peoples?)**

(Atticus's P.O.V., I mean he's the one dueling and Zane's playing dress up as a mummy. XD)

Yeah, when Banner said something of a field trip, I really didn't expect this. But now I have to focus! My best friend and teacher and my lives are at stake!

"Okay, I'll start by summoning my Brown Warrior. I'll place a face-down and end my turn."

Gravekeeper's Chief drew. "Tell me, Atticus have you ever been in a shadow game?"

"Uh, no."

"Well then let me enlighten you on what it's like! I summon my Gravekeeper's Assailant! I'll have her attack your Brown Warrior!

Darn it! My life point meter lowered and then-

"Ah!" I held my stomach in pain. What the heck happened? I looked up at the Chief for an explanation.

"Atticus! Are you alright?" I heard Zane calling from below.

"This, my boy, is a shadow game. Every time you lose life points you feel pain."

"What's the point of that?"

"It's a shadow game."

Atticus- 3200

GC- 4000

"I think I'll end my turn."

**(Yeah, I think Atticus's cards suck real bad so erm later I'm just going to make some up? Okays?)**

I drew a card. "Okay I activate my Pot of Greed to draw two more cards." Monster Reincarnation and Abominable Warrior Lai-Lai. Okay this should work.

"Next, I discard my Fake Trap from my hand to re-summon my Brown Warrior! Next I sacrifice him for my Abominable Warrior Lai-Lai!" Okay, I got one of my strongest monsters on the field. "I'll have him attack your assailant!" The Gravekeeper's Chief flinched as his life points went down.

Atticus- 3200

GC- 2950 (Yes I know, awkward number)

"I'll place a face-down to end my turn. Face that for size!"

"I'll teach you your lesson, you ignorant boy!" Did he just call me an ignorant boy? I looked down at Zane and Banner. Was it just me are did those lids slide a little? Banner was trembling and Zane looked up determined at me.

"I play my Gravekeeper's curse, and on every one of my turns I get to inflict 800 points of damage to you!" I groaned as my life points went down. This was NOT good.

"I play my spell Raigeki to destroy your monster!"

"Okay, that's just wrong!" I said bracing myself as my Lai-Lai exploded in flame. "Now I attack you directly with my Grave Keeper's curse!" Not again.

Atticus- 2400

GC- 2950

I looked down and I was right! The lids did slowly close over Zane and Banner! Every time I lose life points too!

"Don't worry about us, Atticus! Just focus!" I heard Zane yell.

"I'm not done yet, I play the field spell Necrovalley!" A black fog appeared. "This field spell negates all effects having to do with the graveyard!"

Oh brilliant, now I can't re special summon Brown warrior.

"Yes, Now I'm done. Did I scare you?"

"Yeah technically, but to be honest I think it's your clothes, not the black foggy stuff. Okay I play the spell Scapegoat for four sheep tokens! Next I summon my Panther Warrior! I sacrifice one of my sheep tokens so my Panther can attack. Go and destroy that Gravekeeper's Curse!" I smirked, that monster won't be inflicting any damage anymore.

Atticus- 2400

GC- 750

"Oh yeah! Take that old man! I end my turn."

Yeah I could tell I just pissed that guy off.

"You are a very stupid boy." Gee, he needs to chill out. "I summon myself!"

Weirdo. "Uh yourself?"

He disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared on the field. Talking about freaky.

"Yes, I summoned Gravekeeper's Chief! I have a special ability, when I'm summoned I can call forth my faithful servants, Gravekeeper's Assailant, Guard, and two curses !"

"But Necrovalley-" I interjected.

"I also have another ability, Necrovalley's effect doesn't apply to me! I think all of us shall attack your tokens!"

Oh great not good!

I braced myself, I didn't have any monster beside my Panther Warrior. He can't attack.

"And you lose 1600 life points from my two Curses! I end my turn."

Atticus- 800

GC- 750

Okay this isn't good my Panther Warrior is helpless, Next turn he could destroy my Panther Warrior… I have Monster Reborn but because of that darn Necrovalley I can't use that. I have polymerization which is pretty useless right now and I have perfect stage clothes…

_Atticus, Perfect Stage clothes is a really powerful card but it has a huge weakness, if you can find a way around it you'll almost be unstoppable._

And I hear Zane's voice in my head making remember his advice. That's it! I have it! Oh god Atticus you are so brilliant!

"Yeah I know how to get past your little Necrovalley." I started to grin.

"Oh?"

"Oh yeah! Now let me play a card I like to call Perfect Stage Clothes! In case you don't know Perfect Stage Clothes is a field spell so adios to your Necrovalley!" Necrovalley disintegrated, replaced by my field. It sure looks better too.

"No this can't be!" he panicked.

"Now this gives my Panther Warrior 3000 more attack points!"

"What?" the Chief stumbled.

"Go! Panther Warrior and destroy Gravekeeper's Curse!"

GC- 0000

"Hah I won!" I jumped in the air in delight. Teaches someone not to mess with me!

(Zane's P.O.V.)

The thick bandages around me split. My limbs ached as I sat up. Atticus won, he was really something. Across from me Banner sat up. I guess we won't have to worry about being buried alive.

We were guided outside the Gravekeeper's temple. I congratulated Atticus on his win.

"Yeah, thanks Zane. These Shadow games are pretty cool but I think I could be spared from 'friends about to die and you die' part." I nodded and was about to say something but who seemed like the assailant walked up to Atticus. I think I need to give them private time. I took some steps back. They were whispering something. Was Atticus blushing? Oh god, the idiot. This was no time to be flirting.

The Gravekeeper's Chief walked up and congratulated Atticus and handed him half a pendant.

"Oh thanks, what's this for?"

"It's half of a magical item, it'll help you later when you find the second half."

Atticus put the charm around his neck. "Okay, yeah can we go home now?"

The Chief pointed to a rites circle. "Run there quick and when the three suns meet, you'll be transported home." We nodded.

As the three of us ran Banner said, "Congratulations, Atticus. You passed the te-challenge!"

Atticus grinned. There was something suspicious but I didn't know what. Banner was always casting Atticus a strange look. What could he be thinking?

We reached the spot right in cue for we disappeared in a beam of light.

I woke up. Atticus and Banner were both lying unconscious on the ground. I woke them both up. "Uh rise and shine, Atticus, Professor. We should get back now." They agreed. Atticus was telling Banner the fine details of his duel. I wasn't listening, why do I keep on getting this strange feeling something is going to go terribly wrong?

**(No Zane doesn't have super instincts xD It's just a 'what did I forget' feeling.)**

-X-

Now I know that duel was really bad xD I was very unfamiliar with both decks but screw that. At least I explained how Atticus got his pendant. Send in reviews.

Next: The first Duel Monster's Spirit Day!


	6. Duel Monsters Spirit Day

Atticus dropped his textbooks on Zane's chosen lunch table, upsetting his cup of hot coffee. "What's up, Atticus?" I asked mopping up the dark liquid. Atticus wasn't paying attention to the spill. "Did you know that they're building a new Obelisk Dorm?"

"They are? What's wrong with the one we have now?"

Atticus shrugged. "Not sure, they say it's getting old and too crowded. We're moving over there next school year. Darn it. It took so long to set up my own room. I can't believe we have to do it again."

"Sheppard needs to spend the profits more wisely like get a better dorm for the Slifers or actually have some type of training program for them." Me and Atticus resented the fact how Slifer reds were kind of thrown aside, no dueling skills growing.

"Yeah I hate that too. Also talking about Sheppard, he's having some kind of submit-an-idea thing where we can think up our own festivals. A few will be chosen and the whole school will vote on it!"

"That's great Atticus, but isn't it obvious? Honor the existence of Duel Monsters?" Atticus laughed out loud drawing some attention. "You're so broad, Zane. Yeah, that's the topic but we need fine details and I already have some!"

I balled up my garbage and threw it casually in a nearby trash can. "Well good luck Atticus. I'm sure you have brilliant ideas."

. . . **Ooc Alert**

"You WHAT!?" I practically screamed to my standards. Atticus was grinning proudly. "Yup! I put your name on one of them! 'Duel Monsters Spirit Day'!"

"Atticus! Why? I mean-I was JUST at the staff meeting and they decided to choose Duel Monsters Spirit Day! Then they-"

Atticus cut me off. "I don't know what you're so freaked out about Zane."

"_Freaked out? _Since I was chosen I have to give a five-minute speech to the entire school why I thought up the day! I didn't even think it up! How am I supposed to write a five-minute speech by this weekend." Atticus started to examine his finger nails. "Relax, I'll just give you this-" He tossed an ear-phone-thing. I caught it and just stared. "You-just pulled this out of your uniform pocket…" I said. Atticus was an idiot. Atticus sweat dropped. "Heh-Well sometimes you always have to be prepared."

On the day of the festival, stands and stalls had opened up everywhere and the air was filled with mixed scents of pastries, cakes, what-nots. Sheppard and Crowler had insisted in stuffing me into a Toon Alligator suit but I had absolutely refused. It seemed that this was also a _cosplaying _festival. Oh great. I did not plan on dressing up as a cyber dragon which was almost physically impossible, I didn't want to know what Atticus was. I pulled out his ear device, made sure no one was looking and tucked it into my ear, hidden by a lock of hair.

I was to make his speech behind a podium. It reminded him of the presidential elections. Zane didn't like politics. The sun was just going down. It was getting darker, and darker until-

FLASH!

I staggered back as a stage light hit him with full blast. I didn't want to humiliate myself so I pretended he tripped over the floor and regained his balance, trying my best not to blink. I cleared his throat then waited for Atticus's cue…

1 second past…

2 seconds past…

I was thinking up death threats.

5 seconds…

6 seconds…

People were shifting around impatiently, waiting for the Kaiser to speak.

10 seconds…

I had no choice. May the show go on.

"Uh hello, Duel Academy. I'm er proud to present the first Duel Monsters Spirit Day!" I paused for a moment as if he can here a buzz from Atticus's line.

"..So this is a day." Oh god I was getting nervous. Wait a minute. All this stuff has been messing with my head. I never get nervous and I don't plan to!

"This is a day to honor the game of Duel Monsters. For fun. Enjoy yourselves and prepare for-" Atticus finally got his bug working but I knew his plan, I knew it right when the fourth second passed. "-The cosplay duel!" Okay it wasn't five minutes, barely one but it couldn't be helped. Everyone was clapping anyways. I turned around, my sight impaired by the bright light. I staggered down the steps and out of sight.

I had something to settle with my dear friend.

Ah VERY short chapter xD This was just something to set up next year's incidents and you all know what I mean.

I know the first part of my story sounded really flat. I didn't realize I was typing in third person.

Anyways, Happy New Year!


	7. Down With Kaiser

Time to do some time-traveling since nothing interesting happens here. School passes on Zane gets perfect grades blah blah blah, the third year with the highest grades decided to challenge her best friend because she didn't want to challenge the Kaiser so the two boys watched the duel and finally decided the duel was worth crap. Enter: Duel Academy 2nd year!

-X-

On our plane to Duel Academy, Atticus sat next to me this time wide awake. He prodded me.

"What now, Atticus?"

"Isn't the new Obelisk Dorm finished yet?"

"No, remember it was postponed?" It was true, a rare tropical storm of some sort decided to pour down and a lot of time was spent on repairing the site.

"Oh yeah, great. We can stay in our old rooms for a couple of months." After a few hours of brief conversations, we had finally reached Duel Academy. They should really find a faster way to get here. I don't mind the wait but Atticus sure did. We gathered our luggage which was only our uniforms and clothes. I carried just an average luggage back. Atticus looked like he had just move in.

"What did you bring?" I asked him.

"Just some extra clothes." He stumbled under the weight. Uh, for Atticus sake I grabbed a sack. Maybe this could hide my face till we get to our dorms.

I dropped my load near my door and we both slid our card keys. Atticus's door opened right away. Mine didn't. I twisted the handle. Nothing happened. I guess Sheppard was right, this dorm is getting old. Atticus noticed my problem. "Hey, what's up, Zane?"

"My key won't work. Figures, the lady gave me the wrong card data. I'll be right back." I sprinted away from the hall to the main building for my right key.

The lady at the front desk noticed me and tilted her glasses.

"Yes, Mr. Truesdale?" she said expecting some kind of serenade of a sob story. Screw that.

"You gave me the wrong key." I said handing my card to her. She examined it apologized and dianled out the right one.

I ran all the way back to Obelisk Dorm trying to avoid as many groups of people as I can. What I saw was completely unexpected. Atticus was lying on the floor. It looked as if Atticus decided to walk down a dark alley in New York singing the Barney Song. I knelt beside him. He was still conscience.

"Atticus, talk to me. What happened?"

"I couldn't stop him, he just, just snuck up on me then took it." Okay he was not making sense at all.

"Who snuck up on you? Took what?"

"I don't know who.. But your deck. He took your deck." I looked at my own bag, my stuff was strewn everywhere. Wait a minute wasn't my deck in my pocket? I slapped my hand on my side to check. It wasn't there. That's right, I took it out during the plane flight so I wouldn't risk any nosy students going through my pockets just in case if I dozed off.

I went through all my stuff. Atticus was right, my deck was gone. I helped him up, but Atticus avoided my eyes. "I'm sorry, Zane I could've been paying more attention…"

"It isn't your fault. I got the right key we can let Sheppard know in my room." He nodded and I unlocked my door. It was a nightmare. My curtains were ripped up. My window was cracked. Broken glass littered my floor and my TV was practically split in two. Atticus was just as horrified. I wretched open my closet for my spare uniforms. Red plaint was splattered all over them. Black spray paint spelt wrong phrases all over my furniture. I checked my bathroom. The sink was ripped up. The mirror had broken. The toilet bowl had been cracked open and water leaked everywhere. In the midst of broken glass I found a slip of paper that held only three words.

_DoWn wItH kAiSeR_

The note wrinkled in my hand. I frowned but truly rage was burning inside of me. Who would do this. Atticus snatched the note from my hand and mouthed the words. "What kind of sick, twisted fiend would do this?" he asked.

"A lot of sick, twisted fiends. Obelisk has top-security, how did this person get past it?" Atticus shrugged. He didn't know and neither did I.

"Let's go to your room, Atticus. We'll inform the counselor of this." Atticus agreed and careful not to hurt ourselves we walked to his room. I dialed Sheppard's office number.

"Hello? Counselor Sheppard."

"Counselor, it's Zane Truesdale."

"Oh what's up Mr. Truesdale?"

"Someone broke into my room and decided to have a little fun."

Sheppard's voice turned stern immediately. "Hm? What type of fun?"

"Vandalism, Counselor. And thievery. My deck has been stolen."

"Is that so? We'll send someone down to investigate and we'll inform the school of the missing-"

"No, just have this place cleaned up. I don't want any publicity and whoever stole my deck probably wants me to pay ransom for it. I have most of this under my decisions, Counselor." Sheppard argued against my request but finally he gave in.

"Very well, we have no spare Obelisk Rooms. Where will you stay?" Atticus started pointing at himself.

"I'm staying with a friend of mine who just lives across from me."

"Okay, and I apologize Zane for the inconvenience."

I hung up.

Atticus was searching my dismantled drawers in my wrecked up room. "Nope, no other notes or clues here!"

That's weird if this person wants to face me why just leave three words that have no real meaning? There's only one way to make sure and it may seem stupid but heck, worth a try.

"Atticus, do you have any citric acid with you?"

"You mean a lemon? No. You should check the café."

Convenient. I ran to the cafeteria for a lemon and back. Don't ask me for details but I'm sure I looked ridiculous holding a knife and a lemon why running very fast. At least at the sight of the knife no one crossed my path.

I took a seat at Atticus's desk and sliced open the lemon. Atticus was looking over my shoulder. I switched on the lamp even though it was board daylight. Carefully, I squeezed some juiced onto the note. I waited a minute for the light bulb to heat up then I pressed the note to it. I waited, Atticus waited… Nothing until very slowly words appeared…

_If you want to see your deck again, meet me at the edge of the forest. Bring no one._

_Signed, Anonymous._

This person made a very big mistake. But I had to admit they were very clever into planning. First they hacked into the Obelisk Security Computer to disable the alarms. Then they mess up the room database to give me the wrong information on a card to create a diversion to steal my deck. But why would anyone go through so much trouble? What did they want with me?

"I'm going alone, Atticus." He argued. "What are you going to do? You don't even have your duel deck with you. Who knows what they've got planned. How do you know these people are honest, who knows what they've already done to your deck?"

"I don't know and I don't think they are, but leave this to me. I know just what to do."

"Fine but I'm watching from here." Atticus pointed at the window. I sighed and nodded.

- - -

Okay I lied, I really didn't know what to do. Maybe I should've let Sheppard tell everyone about the theft... No, I'm taking care of this on my own. So edge of the forest, eh? It seemed like forever when I reached there. Everyone was at the welcome parties. Big Secong year treat. Brilliant, Spectacular, _fantastic. _Don't you wish you were me.

-X-

I know this chapter is a little short I'm having limited time on the computer, Review!


	8. Something More

**Recap: **Last Chapter, Zane's room got trashed and his deck was stolen, now's he's stuck in a situation where he has to meet the culprit and get his deck back despite the many possibilities on how things can go wrong.

-X-

Okay, so I'm just walking along, minding my own business just about to kick some rear. The trees were getting closer and closer until-

_Thud_

A small projectile bounced off my head. I paused and looked down. It was a rock, someone just threw a rock at me. Can you believe that? A rock, my god I looked in the direction the rock came from. A student in a Ra yellow jacket emerged from the shadows, no he wasn't that scary. He wore a dark green bandana over half of his face.

"I assume you took my deck," I said sounding bored.

"For good reason," as the guy said it, another one appeared, he was in Ra yellow too.

"Yes I'm sure, I highly appreciate it if you give me my deck back."

The guy pretended like he didn't hear me. "Last year I was one of the top Obelisk Students-"

"…" I was not in the mood for a sob story.

"until _you _came, ever since you arrived me and my friends were bumped down to Ra yellow! Ever since then I've been formulating a plan to get you back and now I have!"

My mouth fell open but I quickly closed it. "Wait a minute, you spent nine months working on a revenge plan while you could've just practiced and moved back to Obelisk Blue?"

The other Ra to the side gave a sarcastic cough. "We already belonged in Obelisk Blue! It was your fault, but we know the truth! You're a fraud who only relies on strong and expensive cards to win! But deep inside you have no skill!"

Oh, is that so? "Yeah sure, maybe you can prove it if you can beat me in a duel."

"Oh I will but to prove how weak you are, I'm using your deck while you get to use this!" He tossed a bound up deck at me. I caught it and slid the binding off of it. To be honest, every single card was random.

"You're a fool." I was angrier than I was five minutes ago. These two were the worst of their kind.

The challenger walked to his position and readied his disk while I readied mine. He declared, "If I win I get to keep your deck and you have to leave Duel Academy in shame forever! If you win you can have your cards back and we'll be on our way."

"Fine, I agree," I said reluctantly. I drew my five cards.

Throughout the duel I had to keep my cool and resist trying to strangle my opponent. All he did was use direct combos that relied only on strength and raw power. He had no idea how to _use _a card. It reminded me of my brother. This opponent didn't know anything about Duel Monsters, his own mistakes and downfall were his own doing. Now it was his turn.

"I activate your card called Powerbond and that means I can fuse your Cyber Dragons to form Cyber End Dragon!" My three dear Cyber Dragons disappeared in a flash of white light as Cyber End took their places.

A dark smirk came across my opponent's face. "You're wide open! I can defeat you right now go Cyber End Dragon, attack Zane!" I cast a determined look on my own monster. His heads were writhing as if it were fighting with an invisible ghost. The guy looked up, fear was in his eyes. "What-What's going on? Why won't it attack?" Cyber End Dragon roared before shattering. "What did you do to my dragon!? You had no spells or traps!"

"Correction, _My _dragon. What happened was you're ignorance to use cards correctly and wisely, let this duel serve as a reminder to you. Do me a favor and read the print on Powerbond."

He looked down at my card and mouthed the words, horror coming to his face. "What!? No I can't-" Too Late, his life points dropped to zero.

"I win-" I began but the loser screamed, "Cheater! I don't care I'm keeping this deck!" With that he grabbed his companion's arm and ran the opposite direction. However a familiar face stepped from the trees in front of the startled two.

Atticus had a strange smirk on his face he elbowed the person with my deck and in a swift motion, he gave a hard sock in the face of the other, knocking out both of them.

"Hey good duel, Zane! Help me carry these sore losers to Counselor's office. I nodded and took my deck while heaving him onto my back. Most of the lights were out. I looked up at the starlit sky, a faint figure of a silver dragon waved through the sky before quickly disappearing. I blinked, it might've been my imagination. Or maybe… Maybe there's something more.

- - -

So we dumped off the two guys, they were convicted with the crimes they committed. It seemed they were Andrew and Crawford. Andrew was supposedly a computer hacker and expert. Crawford was just his idiotic friend. Now I still have to stay with Atticus but I learned we're moving over there in just a few weeks.

So now I have my deck, everything's just perfectly normal. But soon, I will learn how terribly wrong, deadly wrong I am.

-X-

-sings the d00m song-

Yuh, cliffhanger kind of xD Yes I do know what I'm putting next chapter, ugh, sorry for the very short chapter I'm getting writers block. Anyways if you're wondering how Cyber End got destroyed suddenly was because, if you haven't noticed from the title of any other hints in the past chapters, Zane _does _have a duel spirit. He just doesn't know it. Anyways, Cyber End would rather destroy itself then attack his master.

Don't ask me about Camula.

…0.o

Huzzah! Oh and I'm going to start personalizing my reviews xD


	9. Final Beginning

We moved into the new dorm just a week ago. I was chosen and won the school duel again, it seemed that my opponent was having some type of pressure break-down. Our old Obelisk Dorm was going to be used for examination purposes. Now I admit, the new dorm was almost twice as big. I was glad to have my own room. Sometimes Atticus had the habit of blasting the music onto high.

We were going to have mid-term exams at the old Obelisk Dorm. I already took mine, I'm just waiting for my results. Atticus still has to take his in just a few days. At first he was fine, perfectly normal for him, but things started to get strange.

I heard a knock on my door and I walked over to answer it. It was Atticus. I tried not to flinch when I saw his features. His eyes were shadowed and were no longer bright, they were cold. Without waiting for my greeting he said in an un-Atticus-like tone, "We need to duel, Truesdale."

This time I did flinch at his usage of my last name. "What's wrong?" I asked, this question was honest. Why the heck does he want me to duel him.. Now?

"We just need too!" He pushed me aside and entered my room. He took a seat by my table and pulled out his deck. I could tell he meant it. Without arguing I took a seat on the opposite side and took out my own deck. It was in basic form. No duel disks. I wondered why.

I had no idea how much this duel had changed my life.

I stared at Atticus's Red Eyes Black Dragon that just destroyed my Cyber Dragon. "Where did you get these cards, Atticus?" To my knowledge, Atticus never even owned these cards. I hadn't seen anyone at the academy use them, no one. Atticus grinned. "You told me when I have no choice, build a new deck from scratch, Zane." The tone of his voice wanted to make me shiver. There was something seriously wrong.

"But you ditched every single card in your old deck." I pointed out as I drew.

"Those cards weren't _satisfying _enough," he clenched his fist at the word.

I never knew how those words would haunt me. They echoed in my mind through out the duel, it ended when I beat him again.

"Atticus, you can't win this way-" I started. Atticus said nothing. He didn't react when I reached over and held his deck.

The moment I touched them, I felt something.

I felt a desire to fling the cards out the window, not wanting to see them ever again.

I felt like I wanted to keep the cards for my own… even if I had to hurt Atticus for them. Yes, that would be the easier choice.

Wait! What the hell am I thinking? This can't be, these cards… they… like have a mind of their own.

"Atticus! You can't keep these, they're messing with your head." Before I could do anything, he snatched the deck from my hand.

"Shut up!" he snarled. "You're a sad excuse-" He didn't finish his sentence, he struck my deck and my cards scattered everywhere. He walked out of mine and slammed his door.

That was the last time I ever saw him that year.

He left me amidst my cards. What happened to my friend. Why was he acting so strange, how did he get those cards, why was I so uneasy with them? I had so many questions, and I needed answers.

The next day I didn't see Atticus at all, then I remembered he had his exams today. But still, it wasn't supposed to take that long. But I was going to have some talk with my friend, he isn't going to be avoiding me. That night I waited outside my own room, waiting for him to return. He didn't. I tried to go into his own room, surprisingly it was unlocked. The room was drafty as I noticed the window was wide open. On his desk was a sheet of paper.

_Dear Zane,_

_I'm sorry about last night, I just lost my temper. I don't know how it happened. Don't-_

The letter was unfinished.

The next day I did the same, no sign of him then I noticed how a number of other people were missing. I was starting to worry, I even saw the Counselor because of this, he didn't know anything but promised to investigate.

It was 4 o' clock in the morning when I heard some commotion. I gazed out my window and in the faint light I saw some type of crowd.. At the old Obelisk Dorm. The place that Atticus was supposed to be, the day he was missing. I quickly changed and ran in the direction of the crowd.

While I was running I realized what happened. It couldn't be.

"My friend's in there!" I shouted. Two officers were holding me back.

"Atticus!" No answer

"ATTICUS!" No answer.

Sheppard walked over to me and told me to calm down, he didn't need to. When I realized my friend was gone I stopped fighting. Trying my best to be my own personality, "What happened, Sheppard?" I already knew the answer, I just needed someone to confirm it.

"The students who were to take their exams here… Disappeared. No one has seen them ever since, I'm sorry Mr. Truesdale. We're trying our best to investigate. We can't let this get to public eyes."

- - -

Weeks passed, special duels and events were cancelled. The Rhodes had visited Duel Academy for their missing son. I tried to apologize to them, telling them I couldn't do anything. I saw the adults' despair and I felt the sadness in Atticus's sister's eyes.

They shortly left the island. After that the Counselor called me to his office.

"You called?"

"Zane, we have some grave news,"

No duh, all we get is grave news. "Yes?"

"Officials are threatening to close down Duel Academy." When I said nothing, Sheppard continued.

"If we do get shut down, Seto Kaiba will lose a lot of money and this can harm the dueling world and overall economy."

"What do you want me to do, Counselor?" I asked.

"I need you to participate in a duel. If you win the Academy will remain open and the government will think up a cover story for this incident."

I nodded and accepted the challenge.

**(I'm getting sick of writing out duels Sorry Dx)**

The graduation duel was cancelled as well. The last semester ended and there was still no signs of the missing students.

- - - - -

Summer passed and my last year at Duel Academy had come.

I watched Atticus's sister, Alexis duel. She really did have her brother's skill, maybe even more. When her entrance duel ended she joined me on the balcony to watch the other examinees.

"You haven't seen Atti, have you?" She asked me. I shook my head. "There's no sign of him. I'm sorry, Alexis." She shrugged.

"Well I'm looking for him, and I know I'm going to find him." She turned to face me.

"Then know this, Alexis. He's my best friend and your brother. Don't give up hope."

Now an examinee named Jaden Yuki was up dueling against Doctor Crowler.

"You know," Alexis told me. "I feel sorry for that guy, Crowler's being a little tough on him, don't you think."

"You're too soft, Alexis. Sometimes you have to learn that you and others have to face challenges, take them on and make it through like I have. That is a rule of dueling."

Watching Jaden's duel hurt me. His outgoing personality and determination reminded me so much of Atticus.

- - - - - - -

I heard that Jaden Yuki was put into Slifer Red because of his written test scores. That was bull'. Maybe Crowler was behind all of this, upset that he lost to the kid.

Alexis filled in part of the empty space that Atticus had left. Occasionally I saw Alexis leave a red rose at the old Obelisk Dorm now known as the Abandoned Dorm in memory of her brother.

She didn't know I was watching and I never stopped her even when it was strictly forbidden to even get near the Abandoned dorm, for I knew exactly how she felt.

Where are you Atticus?

-X-

The end! Wow this ended much sooner than I expected it but I'm finished! Now I hoped you enjoyed this. Review!

PS. If you're wondering why Atticus didn't use duel disks, deep inside he really didn't want to hurt his friend, especially not to drag him into a shadow game and holograms can just bring someone a step closer to doing that.


End file.
